Traditional toothbrushes have a head with bristles adjoining a rigid handle which is held by the hand of the user while the user brushes his or her teeth with the bristles. Such toothbrushes have a number of recognized disadvantages including an inability to effectively clean the surfaces of all teeth, particularly those at the rear of the mouth, and a tendency to injure the gums by sharp contacting of the gums by the rigid handle. These conventional toothbrushes are not suitable for use by persons such as arthritics who cannot grip the toothbrush.
In other situations, such as cleaning the teeth of pets, it is more convenient to have the brush mounted on the finger of the person brushing the pets' teeth in order to access tight regions. A finger held toothbrush also permits the user to "feel" the toothbrush and its effects better than in the case where a handle toothbrush is used. Pets have been found by veterinarians and the like to resist a large toothbrush with a handle. However, they do not mind the veterinarian's finger.
Many attempts have been made to design a brush structure to be fixed or held upon the finger of the user. Much greater control and flexibility can be achieved when the brush is manipulated by a finger. However, the known finger brushes have a number of disadvantages. Many prior art finger brushes have a closed end finger sheath which does not adapt well to different finger and fingernail lengths. See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. Des. 97,360 (Stevens).
Another disadvantage of many finger brushes is an inability to retain the brush in proper alignment on the finger during brushing. Prior attempts to overcome this problem include providing: an adhesive strip with overlapping ends, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,921,590 (Holton) and 2,915,767 (Vaughan); a slit through which the fingertip is inserted, U.S. Pat. No. 2,439,056 (Rathbun); a frustoconical finger holder which may be slit and formed of a resilient material, U.S. Pat. No. 2,396,548 (Allen); a ribbed expandable loop together with a fingernail cavity, U.S. Pat. No. 3,105,260 (Smith et al.); and an elastomeric tubular member of uniform inner dimension which is deformable to snugly (engage the finger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,987 (Alam). Many of these devices are undesirable because of their cost and/or they still do not adequately prevent slippage.
Another disadvantage of prior art toothbrushes is that they do not provide an efficient surface for brushing the surfaces of each tooth. Most brushes provide a flat brushing surface which does not effectively contact the contours of the tooth surface. One prior art device, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 97,360 (Stevens), provides an elongated concave brush surface, but this surface would be effective only if aligned vertically with each tooth being brushed. Such positioning is awkward at best, and impossible for teeth in the back of the mouth.
It has also been suggested to shape the brushes of a standard toothbrush to a point to provide a pick for cleaning between the teeth, U.S. Pat. No. 2,155,245 (Sekine). However, this pick has the previously-mentioned disadvantages of brushes on elongated handles and further, no surface is provided for efficiently brushing the surfaces of each tooth.
It has also been suggested to provide a rubber tip on the end of a tongue toothbrush for massaging the gums, and a slit storage compartment and mounting projection for a length of dental floss, U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,705 (Stouffer).
Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 2,396,548, Allen, discloses a toothbrush comprising an elongated back having parallel side edges, a flat bottom surface and a downwardly concave top surface. Bristles are embedded in the flat surface and extend therefrom. A finger receiving tapered loop is integral with the back overlying the concave surface. The taper of the loop extends along the length thereof. The loop is of substantial length and shorter than the length of the back and has a longitudinally central position with respect to the back. The sides of the loop are downwardly flared adjacent the point of attachment to the back. The longer edges of the flared portions are adjacent the lengthwise edges of the back and have a length substantially equal to the length of the edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,767, Vaughan, discloses a disposable toothbrush comprising a longitudinally elongated, flexible strip, a resilient pad fixed to one surface of said strip, pressure sensitive adhesive covering at least part of said strip surface not covered by said pad and a plurality of short spaced-apart bristles which are embedded in said pad and which extend through said strip above the surface thereof opposite to said pad forming a small brush which may be fixed upon the finger of a user by wrapping said strip around the finger, and held in place thereon by means of said pressure sensitive adhesive, said resilient pad cooperating with said strip to maintain said bristles in a brushing position during use of the toothbrush.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,590, Holton, discloses a disposable tooth cleaning implement comprising, a flexible strip element having bristles projecting from one face thereof. Adhesive flexible tape means laterally extends from the sides of the strip element for adhesive attachment by wrapping to the finger of the user of the implement. The strip means has the outer extremities formed to be free of adhesive to facilitate the stripping of the implement from the finger of the user upon completion of the tooth cleaning operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,113, Jacob, discloses a dental health tool and method of negating the ability of plaque forming bacteria to build plaque sanctuaries between and around the tooth structure. The tool is a means for securing bristles to the skin surface of a finger of the user in order to permit both the finger nerves and gum tissue nerves to guide the use of the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,694, Bori, discloses a finger-mounted device for cleaning teeth having an improved teeth cleaning surface, pick means for cleaning between the teeth, a nonslip finger-engaging means, and means for providing a length of dental floss. The improved teeth cleaning surface consists of a plurality of concave surfaces joined along their raised edges. Each of the concave surfaces is adapted to clean a complimentary shaped convex tooth surface. The raised edges are adapted to clean the tooth edges. The teeth cleaning surface is preferably formed by soft bristles. The pick means comprises a section of hard bristles disposed within the soft bristle area. The distal ends of the hard bristles are tapered to form a point which lies beneath the soft bristle surface. The pick is exposed for cleaning between the teeth by applying a greater pressure than that required for brushing the teeth with the soft bristles. The improved fingerengaging means is a tubular holder having both ends open and including an arcuate portion on end edge defining a concave fingertip surface for engaging the palm side of the fingertip to retain the holder on the finger. A length of dental floss is attached at one end to the device and stored around a spool attached to the device. The opposite end of the floss is attached to ring means which is also mounted on the device but detachable therefrom for unwinding the floss from the spool and holding the floss taut between the ring and device in a teeth flossing position.